Diverse Societies: Palestine
The Culture and People
INQ-260
Tatiana Cherry Santos
Roanoke College
10/10/18
Introduction
Though Palestine is a name for a region with no precise boundaries due to it long history, the region is located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, South of Lebanon, West of Jordan, and North of Israel. In recent years and with contemporary politics, Palestine is known as the Gaza Strip and West Bank. According to the New World Encyclopedia (2016), Palestine is about the size of the U.S state Delaware and has four main geographical regions, which consist of Israeli costal plains, central hills, the Jordan Rift Valley, and the Negev Desert. With four regions and the territory being surrounded, historically, there has been a huge mixing of cultures and conflict. Since the beginning the Israeli-Palestine conflict, competing nationalism, has dominated time and has had a huge impact on the people of Palestine. “Palestinians may continue to face political impossibilities, but cannot be considered as not producing a culture of their own” (Tawil-Souri, 2009, p. 182). Even with conflict the culture of Palestine is as unique as any other country.
Racial and Ethnic Groups
To begin, Palestine has a population of roughly 4,750,000 people. This is a commination of the 1,880,000 habitants in Gaza and the 2,930,00 in the West Bank. About 729,081 in the West bank and over 1 million in Gaza are registered refugees, which usually refer to the residents whom have been displaced (World Factbook, 2018). The majority ethnic group residing in the territory of Palestine is Palestinian Arabs. Other groups consist of Jewish, Palestinian and small percentages of Samaritans. Roughly half of the Palestinian population resides in Historic Palestine.
Religions
As stated before, Palestine has shifted through a lot of different territory lines, making the religion complex as well. As of today, Palestine is made up of 98% Sunni Muslim. Islam is the world second largest religion with about 24.1% of the globe being Muslim. Within the Islam religion, there are two main denominations of Muslims, the Sunnis and the Shi’ites. The main difference between the two groups comes down to history and who would be Muhammad’s successor when he died. Sunnis wanted to have his community of followers decide and the Shi’ites wanted to keep his successor in the family. This caused the split and in many places this conflict brings tensions. Since the Islamic faith is the majority on Palestine, there are many practices that follow. As expressed by Hooker (1999), Islam has a 5-pillar practice with the pillars following as: declaration of faith, daily prayers, fasting during Ramadan, almsgiving, and the pilgrimage to Mecca. However, though most Palestinians are Muslim, there are a small percentage of Christians, Zionist and Druze.
Language
Palestinian Arabic is the language widely used in the society and is a subgroup of the Levantine Arabic dialect. According to Ulrich (2006), Palestine’s society can be broken up to three groups: Urban, Rural and Bedouin, and each area has a different sub dialect especially noticeable in the pronunciation of Q. Not only is Arabic spoken but there are a growing number of Palestinians who can speak Modern Hebrew. This makes sense since there is a history of Jewish immigration to Palestine in the 1930’s and a community of Jewish people in Israel and a small one still in Palestine. The third language that is widely understood in the state is English.
Material Elements
Just as any other country, Palestine has a unique and traditional set of material elements. To begin, Palestine has a vast history in terms of the clothing and garments worn. Palestinian costumes are the traditional clothing worn by the Palestinians and in the 1940s, reflected a woman’s economical status, marriage status, and her town of origin through the color, fabric, cut, and embroidery. This meant that the clothing was hand crafted and delicately embroidered making the creation and maintenance very significant. The clothing, or “costumes” often reflect the three different group life styles in Palestine which were the Villagers, Townspeople, and the Bedouins. The villagers, whom lived in isolated and silent areas, wore very traditional clothing with an older design. The townspeople were able to retrieve news and had an openness’ to fashion that meant it would not be permanent and was reflected in their clothing. By the 20th century, men and women adopted western style. Lastly, the Bedouins lived a nomadic lifestyle and their clothing reflected a tribal affiliations and not a geographical one. Men had a much more uniform and simple style of clothing. According to Go Palestine (2018), In modern society, there is an increase in trousers and loose shirts for women, and jeans and a t-shirt for men.
Another material element in Palestine is the food. The food in Palestine has been “influenced by Arab, Persian, and Turkish culture” (Ranta, 2014). There is a large use of lamb, rice, yogurt and dates in day-to-day dishes. In the Galilee area the food is very common to Lebanese cuisine. For example, Kibbee, which consists of ground lamb, onions, and spices, is a very traditional Lebanese dish as well as a dish served in Galilee. Gaza has a big influence from the Mediterranean and Egypt, along with having a fishing industry. A popular dish includes Sumaghiyyeh and is traditionally made for the holidays, the dish consists of ground sumac soaked then mixed with tahini and flour. Lastly, the West Bank has Musakhan, which is considered the national dish of Palestine. The dish consists of roasted chicken, pine nuts, sumac, onions and saffron.
Non-material Elements/Norms, Folkways, and Mores
Palestine has many social customs and traditions. The biggest value the Palestinian people have is family. Family is extremely important to the society. “The Palestinians' political experience and reality have served to further strengthen family ties (IMEU, 2006, p.1). Family is a source of identity and is the basis of Palestinian culture. Since this is such a fundamental value, Palestinian children are raised to have responsibility to family members as well take care of the elders and financially support parents and grandparents. Another value in the Palestinian Culture according to IMEU (2006) is the idea of honor. A woman’s virtue often reflects the family’s honor. Thus leading to an understanding and norm for a woman to act modestly and proper. This folkway shows that woman must always have etiquette and be ladylike. However this is starting to change with education in the Palestinian society. Palestinians also hold high ideals in terms of hospitality. Their homes are always ready to receive guests, expected or unexpected, and always have food and coffee ready (IMEU, 2006). It is very common for family and neighbors to visit each other a couple times a week. This shows how generous and hospitable the ideal culture should be and how Palestinians follow this more and folkway.
Not only do Palestinians have common values, they also have a wide range of customs. One includes the birth of a child, which is a very joyous occasion, and the events that follow after the birth. When a child is born it is very common for family, friends, and neighbors to visit the new parents and child for several weeks. This shows love, support, and the visitors offer their best wishes to the family. Depending on the religion, Christians may hold a Christian baptizing and Muslims, the majority, will hold an “informal naming ceremony’”(IMUE, 2006, p.1). Weddings are also an elaborate affair lasting around 3 days and are full of celebration with food, music, and dancing. It is common for the newlyweds to move into the groom’s parent’s home, this has a lot to do with economics and the devastation young people face, as they usually cannot afford to live on their own. However these celebrations are always a joyous occasion where family and friends come together and have a good time.
Palestine is a state that is full of culture and practices. Not only do they have an ideal and real Culture, there are mores, folkways, and material culture just like any other country or state. This information only scratches the surface of the complex and dynamic culture of Palestine.
References:
Hooker, R. (1999). Arkan Ad-Din the Five Pillars of Religion. United States: Washington State University.
Urich, A. (2006). Sociolinguistics, International Handbook of the Science of Language and Society. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter
Tawil-Souri, H. (2009). Editorial Towards a Palestinian Culture Studies, Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication. New York: Brill
Ranta, R. (2014). Palestine and Palestinians in Israeli Food Culture (Vol.14). London: University College London
Central Intelligence Agency (2018). The World Factbook. Retrieved from
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
The World Encyclopedia (2016). Palestine. Retrieved from http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Palestine#Palestinian_people
Institute for Middle East Understanding (2005). Palestinian Social Customs and Traditions. Retrieved from https://imeu.org/article/social-customs-and-traditions
Go Palestine, The Palestinian Center (2018). Life in Palestine. Retrieved from http://gopalestine.org/what-to-wear-in-palestine/